Updates for Pammie

Ok Pammie, here it is. I'd like to pour out my heart and soul but I don't have the energy to type out a book here, ya know?? This is why they invented skype....its easy....as you know.....HINT HINT HINT.
oh crikey, I just saw that you called me.....sorry! I must have been out in the yard. Shall we schedule ?

I've been taking more pictures for you because I knew it was time and I'd be hearing from you. It's more fun taking them for you than I'd believed as I mentioned before. I can take pics of silly things, and you will understand lol......

Everything is getting more beautiful now Pammie, ever since I decided to make this house my home. Even roommate John is getting better! I'm juicing for him and the oxygen/herb pills are working for him like a charm, he even ordered more! I cannot take the pills, its like drinking coffee......but the Good Lord knew they'd be good for him in the long run. He's no longer gaunt and out of energy all the time....and not depressed and morose either. I've actually heard him say when I ask how he feels....that he feels 'good'.....never heard that in 9 years! I feel kind of liberated a bit to engage more now in my own creativity. He seems to be on the mend.
 
Yesterday I sat down at the sewing machine which I can only set up on the kitchen table for now, and I could see out of the living room window at the late afternoon sun, and it was gorgeous! my begonias are blooming and beautiful. The kitchen window views are all beautiful....of course I've worked on this aspect too....and the back door view was gorgeous too....I found myself, literally.....surrounded by beauty......and was only then.....free to begin sewing.
I'm working on everything Pammie, the gardens, the house, my self, my hair, my foods, my utensils, everything. If its not beautiful and inspirational, it goes. But I'm working most of the time on my environment and its paying off. I'm starting to feel beautiful again here and there. I'm working on a new habit first thing in the morning.....to go to the mirror, make my hair beautiful with flowers etc, to dress appropriate for the mood, then begin doing things. I forget often though and walk straight outside to see the gardens.....but this piece of making myself beautiful first and foremost is the definitive setting for the day. If I don't do it, I suffer. Today was a good one.

I'm frustrated right now  I don't understand why I cannot be entrenched in making all the clothes I'd planned on. But when I look around I realize the fabrics I want are not here, and that could be a good reason, because I'm not settling or making anything less than perfect.....no more compromising on quality, the fabric is everything. I do have some nice cottons and linens but they're not inspiring me....the gauzy linens are what drive me nuts with creative inspirations, and I wish I had the $$ to buy them. It's making me kind of sick this stuckness.....but on to other things.

I sat down yesterday to make my first simple piece, but I did want to start off sewing something really simple to get back into the feel of it, like I used to. But you know? I discovered something interesting about myself.....what I thought was procrastination, god forbid! I realized was something else entirely. I kept finding things to do, setting up, making sure I have ALL the materials I need (not!) before beginning, cleaned, organized etc....and I thought I was procrastinating. I read a comment on the magazine Where Women Create and it spoke of me and my ''dilemma" and I realized there is nothing wrong with me ~! :
http://www.wherewomencreate.com/about/ABOUT US:
''Whether it’s art, music, written works, or choreographed dances, extraordinary women know that the process of creating is as important as what ultimately gets created. That is why extraordinary women pay attention to the details of their work spaces… making sure that they surround themselves with visually stimulating inspiration and unique organizational systems. WHERE WOMEN CREATE invites you into the creative spaces of the most extraordinary women of our time. Through stunning photography and inspirational stories, each issue of this quarterly magazine will nourish souls and motivate creative processes.'' ~end quote.

So with that I saw that there is a 'PROCESS', because this new venture of mine is not just some distraction or to keep busy or anything like that, but a lifestyle I'm setting up for my authentic self and that this ''process'' of ''attention to detail of the workspace''......I'm in the midst of it. I realized there was a reason for all that I was doing and it was not procrastination as I kept finding things that needed to be done ''first''....and though not possible I wanted all the materials I could possibly need first before I sit to create.....that I wanted to have my entire living place completely organized and beautifully inspiring......I realized all this was really the ''prep''' before beginning my venture, of coaxing out my Inner Muse....making it inviting for her to come out and play.....that I was preparing a sacred space for her Sacred Highness, so she would want to be present with me in the material world.... to create! This is no small task! Preparing for Her involved a fastidious attention to everything being in place, so that then the soul can wander, envision, then return and manipulate all the collected materials into ''the vision''. This is what I truly want, deeply and completely.

I want to make all my own clothes finally, since I'm 14 I've wanted to do this but never did thinking the material world was so superficial....but now, engaging in this aspect is keeping me sane.....unless I get frustrated. ;S
But this line of clothes from Les Ours D'Uzes is what I'd love to make and wear. I cannot afford them or the others, so I must make them....but Les Ours has my heart in their French country clothing line, and the linen gauze fabrics is what I need and love the most.
Today I almost gave in to desperation when I got your card that said ''NEVER STOP CREATING''....and I know I'm on the right path and I wont give up. phew!

Ok. then on to pics now.....there's alot here and this is not all of them......I love you dearly.

My tea for one....I made a Moroccan Mint tea and this pot gets very hot. I had a fire in the house  *aiyaiyai*  on the day  I took this picture, but that will be for our skype convo.

Linzer cookies I made myself......who knew my favorite cookie was the easiest!

 This white iron bistro set John bought. He likes the one I have and he bought this white one for the back yard. Do you know? He bought a2nd set, another one for another part of the yard? And it was ALL HIS IDEA! I swear the garden was speaking to him because it was an inspired idea. He got rid of the two teak chairs and the metal mosaic table that was rusting, and replaced it with another beautiful white bistro set! The white is magical!...its exactly what the gardens needed. Now I'm going to be bringing more white touches to the yard.

 I think the seashell on the white table is one of the most perfect things I've ever seen. I'm in love with it.






This is the other table....and a new conch sea shell...this pink drives me crazy.

  

This below is a picture from sitting at that table looking into the kitchen window....the sights so beautiful, the vine creeping over the screen, all the pretty glass with flowers and shells in them, the sparkly crystal chandelier was set on low....looking like candlelight....yes, I have it set on a dimer switch...! This pic didn't come out clear, but this picture has a je ne sais quoi aspect to it, that expressed something of what is here.

A picture of the kitchen table from inside. Croissants in the cloche, and sunflowers with begonia flowers over the Fairy lady......lace curtains.....so much beauty.

A snippet from my room where I keep my jewelry in a small apothecary jar....and a crystal pedant I wear.
 

 

My bindi's on a flat gemstone. 

A large angel who I painted a bit so you can see her features. She wears a bindi too and my lip gloss LOL!!

I'm very into seashells lately....again.....and this large one sits in front of my Himalayan Salt Crystal lamp so it glows from the inside. The artwork is something magical and haunting from an artist from a Renaissance Faire.

Snippets from the shelf where I keep the Fairy collection.

 see the sleeping fairy under the gold 'blanket' with a pillow?

A Himalayan Salt crystal tea light holder lit with sea shells around it....its beautiful.....no? or is it just me??

 

 When I moved to Florida 15 years ago, I vowed that now that I lived in a warm climate, I'd do like the Tahitian and Pacific Island women do and wear flowers in the hair every day. I was born with some ancient love for the Pacific Islands like Tahiti and Bora Bora for some reason and as a florist and gardener I adore wearing nature in my hair. It is why I went to Bali after I had my accident....I felt acutely my mortality, and thought this ''now'' moment was the only one I had to live my dream and to see those places. Bali was amazing and magical.

source

So, nine years ago when I moved onto this property I planted a bunch of hibiscus bushes to have flowers all the time because when I saw how they do them in Bali, I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever. They literally put flowers especially red hibiscus in everything, all the stone statues, everywhere that will hold a flower. I will never forget it. So when I got onto this property I planted them in all colors.

The large lavender flower is silk, the others are real begonias.....I had an ostrich feather I cleaned from fire soot, and couldn't find a place for it quick enough, so I stuck it in my hair....LOL....it's almost exactly the same color!

 Jasmine in my hair, which is why I also planted that when I moved here. I smell them all day in my hair.

 

One of my favorite plants, lysimachia...it grows drapey....which I love.

A Shooting Star bush died, strangled by the grape vine tendrils, and I took it down.....it just cracked off, and as John and I looked at it, he began to look at the wood beneath the bark and saw it was pretty. I loved the bark too....so I peeled it all and collected it in a copper basket, and found the wood grain beautiful and that it actually was a natural piece of artwork.....I found a place for it under the Mango Tree with the bromeliad garden....isn't it beautiful ? so architectural?

A blurry view from the inside of the computer room out to the living room.

 These flowers are a deeper purple than this picture shows.....but I love the green moss on the pot!

The pond is also doing very well again, and John bought some baby goldfish, which you can see here.

And lastly, a gossamer tiny spiderweb I found this morning, and I thought of you Pammie, and took this pic.

 LOVE.



I'm sharing this post with A DelightsomeLife: Home and Garden Thursday

and 2805: potpourri Friday

and Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt it Friday

and My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

and Feathered Nest Friday at FRENCH COUNTRY COTTAGE